Chapter 11 A So-So Acquaintance The boy's smile was flat, but his eyes were full of humor...
Zi Jing had never imagined that his name would be spoken by a young Taoist nun he had never met before.
He stroked the rim of the cup and tentatively asked, "Huan Xun?"
Once the words were out, Yu Nie suddenly realized that he seemed to share the same surname as the person before him and that infamous traitor.
Could the two be from the same clan, or even brothers? She hadn't read much of that book, "The Fall of Beiye," and didn't remember whether Huan Xun, that scoundrel, had any brothers or not.
Various guesses raced through her mind, and she couldn't help but break out in a cold sweat. Her careless nature meant she wasn't really that meticulous.
Her senior martial uncle, Cui Miaochang, warned her that "too much talk leads to mistakes."
Now, I've really said too much and made a mistake.
Although Huan Zijing and Huan Xun were not related by blood, they were still superior and subordinate to each other.
It's never a good thing to speak ill of someone's leader in front of others.
Before she could say anything, he picked up the purple clay teapot on the table, refilled her tea, and then filled his own. He looked up, as if surprised: "Little Taoist priest, do you know my commander?"
Yu Nie chuckled twice, trying to brush it off with a laugh: "We're just casual acquaintances."
She shouldn't speak too deeply, as she hadn't yet figured out the depth of their relationship. If she spoke too deeply and revealed the truth, there would be no way to make amends.
Having considered this, she acted decisively, seizing the opportunity to move closer, her expression full of interest: "The captain's surname is also 'Huan,' could it be... you are brothers?"
Her subtle hints were so obvious that it was hard for him to pretend he didn't know.
Realizing that she was testing him, Zijing tilted his head back slightly and said, "How could the Commander and I be brothers? Wouldn't that be a demotion for the Commander?"
He distanced himself from Huan Xun, saying, "The commander-in-chief is the only adopted son of Lord Yan, the Grand Commander of the Army, both inside and outside the capital. He holds a very high position, and I, a mere captain, am far above him."
His sincere expression and pure, bright eyes made him seem utterly genuine. Yu Nie nodded thoughtfully and asked again, "But you're not in a superior-subordinate relationship. You and Huan Xun should be quite familiar with each other, right?"
"How could that be?" Lying was his forte, and he did it so smoothly that no one could see through it: "I was only transferred to the commander's side last month. I can't say I'm familiar with him, but I definitely know him."
Even though he said that, Yu Nie was still uneasy. She secretly sized up Zi Jing to her right. His face was dignified and upright, and his words were honest and forthright. He did not have the cunning of a devil or the cunning of a fox or rat.
Perhaps he was telling the truth.
Having learned her lesson, she dared not say more, only saying, "I see, it seems my guess was wrong."
Seeing that she had no intention of continuing the conversation, Zi Jing glanced at Yu Nie, closed his eyes briefly, and picked up some food from his plate: "However... I am curious, why did you make such a judgment about the commander just now, little Taoist priest?"
She had to find an excuse to cover it up. Lying was something Yu Nie was good at, so she rolled her eyes and made up a story: "Oh, I just heard it from gossip." She took a half step closer, lowered her voice, and whispered: "You should know that idle people in the streets love to spread all sorts of baseless rumors."
"What nonsense are you spouting? Tell me about it," Zi Jing teased.
"I dare not say that. If you were to tell your commander one day, my life would be in danger." She said it casually, but Zijing heard it as a veiled attack on him.
He repeatedly assured her, using her earlier act of poisoning He Chenlao's group as collateral, that he would not betray her now, nor would he in the future.
Besides, even if he did say it, without evidence to prove it, no one would believe him.
He reasoned with her and appealed to her emotions. Finally, Yu Nie's ears softened, and she gradually said, "Actually, it's nothing important. It's just that Huan Xun is a man of extraordinary martial prowess, killing people like cutting melons, with the ambition of a wolf, and an unrighteous subject... things like that."
After listening to her words, Zijing laughed heartily, propping her elbow on the table, resting her chin on her hand, and grinning widely: "Interesting, there's such a thing."
Seeing him laugh out loud, Yu Nie looked puzzled: "Doesn't Your Excellency get angry after hearing this?"
“A few idle words are nothing to be concerned about.” His eyes, beautiful as if painted by a master artist, were fixed on Yu Nie as he said, “Even if the commander himself came, he would not be angry. He would take it as a compliment and might even give him a reward.”
His words piqued Yu Nie's curiosity. She remembered that historical records stated Huan Xun died at the age of twenty-seven, nearing middle age. At this time, he was probably even younger. Could it be that this man had such strange behavior in his youth?
In ancient times, from commoners to high-ranking officials, people valued their reputation above all else. Huan Xun's behavior was so different from that of ordinary people.
She couldn't help but wonder about the age of this treacherous official who deserved to die a horrible death.
The words were on the tip of her tongue, but she suddenly realized that she had just said that she knew Huan Xun only casually. If she asked again now, wouldn't that be contradictory and arouse suspicion? So she kept quiet and gave up.
She wanted to give up, but someone wouldn't allow it.
Zijing picked up the teacup on the table, took a small sip, and then asked, "Young Taoist priest said that you know the commander-in-chief in a similar way. How exactly do you know him?"
Watching people put on a show is a great pleasure. He loves to find this kind of amusement in his spare time.
“Our two families were neighbors. Later, he went to the capital Jian’an and I never saw him again.” She recounted Lang Xi’s past, without making it up at all, as if it were her own story: “I heard about him again when I heard people talking about him.”
She added with feigned seriousness, "I thought he had gone to take the imperial examination, but I never expected that he had joined the army."
She dared not continue speaking, lest she give herself away.
She glanced out the window, then turned back and said, "It's getting late. I should go to Xiangyun Pavilion to buy some materials. If I'm late, there won't be any left for me."
After saying that, she stood up. Unexpectedly, Zijing also stood up.
He picked up the black sword with gilded patterns engraved on the table, leaned against his chest, and said with his arms crossed, "We have the same goal, young Taoist priest, why don't we travel together?"
*
When it comes to making money, Yu Nie is incredibly enthusiastic.
Yesterday, she and Zijing went to Xiangyun Pavilion to buy fabric and had a cloak custom-made. At her suggestion, the two went to the market and found a vendor who specialized in slaughtering chickens and cattle. They bought half a pound of chicken blood, put it in an empty vinegar jar, and brought it back to the temple.
To prepare peacock blue, wood ash is an alkaline substance. In addition to neutralizing acidic soil and serving as a potassium fertilizer, it can also be used to prepare glaze colors. The potassium, sodium and other alkaline oxides it contains can prevent the surface of porcelain from becoming rough, increase the coloring strength, and lower the melting point.
Chicken blood is used to create the texture on the surface of porcelain ewers. It should not be added in excess, as too much will ruin the purity of the blue tone.
As for alum, it has many uses. It is often used to fix the pigments on fabrics, making them less prone to fading. It can also be used to stop bleeding and to purify impurities.
With Cui Miaochang's permission, Yu Nie no longer needed to hide in the house to prepare peacock blue, and she moved the earthenware pots and medicine kettles back to the backyard.
The backyard was spacious and no one passed by often, so she could do her own thing in peace.
The small stove for boiling pigments was set up next to the side gate in the backyard. To prevent clutter, a ring of fist-sized stones was placed under the medicine pot to hold the ash, with an empty space in the middle for storing firewood. If you were hungry, you could throw a potato in to roast.
The table for mixing the pigments was set up under the eaves, no more than two steps away from the medicine pot.
Once everything was ready, under the blazing sun, Yu Nie bent over and began working at the platform.
Langxi and Ahui watched curiously from the sidelines.
Yu Nie found the wide sleeves cumbersome, so he pulled off a loop and tied both sleeves behind his back. He then used a coarse cloth headscarf to gather his black hair, leaving only a few stray strands hanging down by his temples, swaying gently in the wind, adding a touch of elegance.
From a distance, looking at her from behind, she didn't seem like a monk at all; an uninformed person might mistake her for a young woman just coming of age.
She took out the recipe she had roughly estimated the night before and muttered to herself: "One bowl of water mixed with three qian of wood ash, two spoonfuls of chicken blood, and five qian of alum."
The chicken blood wasn't wet either; when she got up in the morning, she had already dried it into powder over a low flame.
Fortunately, in her previous life, she enjoyed reading books about the history of ancient dye development during her spare time and remembered some things.
Indeed, knowledge is the ladder of human progress; I never imagined it would come in handy now.
Once the preparation was complete, the bamboo leaf water boiling in the medicine pot was also boiling.
The flavonoids in bamboo leaf water have antioxidant properties, which can prevent the glaze on porcelain from oxidizing and make the colors more lustrous.
Yu Nie poured all the prepared ingredients into the medicine pot and simmered it over low heat for an hour.
Seeing her busy at work, Langxi couldn't help but ask, "Junior sister, is what you're doing... okay?"
Yu Nie raised his arm, wiped the sweat from his forehead, and replied, "It should be possible, but this is also my first time making this peacock blue, so it certainly won't be done in one go. Let's wait until it's finished boiling, then steam it for half an hour, let it dry, and then see what the finished product looks like."
What she said made sense, and Langxi nodded slightly, a knowing look on his face.
She was used to making these strange and unusual things, and they were already used to it.
A few years ago, she even made a soap by mixing wood ash with soapberry juice, and the results were highly praised by Langxi and the others. It was far better than washing clothes with soapberry alone.
Unfortunately, extracting soapberry juice by hand is too slow. There are very few soapberry trees in their vicinity, making it difficult to obtain enough soapberry juice in a limited time.
Otherwise, she would have made a fortune long ago.
Zijing and Xie Cheng stood by the aisle of the main hall, watching Yu Nie bustling about.
Xie Cheng glanced at the person beside the medicine pot, then turned his gaze back to his own commander.
The boy's smile was calm, but his eyes were full of humor.
Watching this scene, Xie Cheng whispered in Zi Jing's ear, "Why does the commander suspect that the young Taoist priest Yu Nie is a spy?"
The boy didn't look at Xie Cheng, but instead said three words that seemed unrelated: "Interesting."
A note from the author:
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